Hello there!

I'm back for another chapter!

I will admit I almost forgot today was chapter day but only because my schedules are all fkd up. Explanation: Yesterday was a bank holiday (no work), and the boss did not give us free Friday. Dommie, can I please get treats today? You know what I like,

We're bringing trauma because if you can name me 1 human being over 18 that has zero amount of trauma, I will give you the most expensive chocolate I can find on my next trip to the supermarket.

This chapter was definitely heavily influenced by the first time I met Dommie's friend group. It was *not* my fault.

Dommie, thank you baby :3

am sleepy, have the chapter

I hope you like it :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Fairy Tail. I do, however, own the rights to this story and OC characters that might appear in the future.

Chapter IV: The Loving Tease

X—X

Sting groaned, rolling his shoulders as he stepped out of his room. Rubbing the sleep of his eyes, he almost missed someone quietly nursing a drink at the bar. The keyword being almost. The waves of orange hair were easily recognizable, and there was something about the whole situation that was putting him on the edge. He walked up to her.

"Good morning, Ivy."

She jumped in her seat and turned to him. "Sting. I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"No, I got up early. I have a meeting in the council," he explained.

"Oh, don't let me keep you, then!" she smiled, but this time, there was something behind it.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" she tried to wave him off, but he took her wrist. She gasped and looked up to his eyes.

"Don't lie to me."

"It's nothing." she shook her head.

"Ivy." Sting grabbed her chin and pulled her face up. "You can talk to me."

"You have more important stuff to do." she licked her lips.

"You're important too."

"I..." her cheeks flushed crimson. "It's just a less-than-good day today."

"Anything I can do to make it better?"

Sting saw the answer in her eyes, but she shook her head. "No. Just alone time for me, please."

"...okay. I really have to go; I don't want to be late. But we can talk when I get back, okay?"

"Mh-mm." Ivy nodded and Sting smiled, before leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead.

"I'll see you soon, Ivy."

"See ya, Sting."

As per usual, the Council meeting of Guild Masters was nothing if not boring. Amidst some fights started between Makarov and Bob, Ooba falling asleep and Banaboster causing mayhem, Sting was just about done with them all. The whole thing was a formality, to keep everyone accounted for and in check – he suspected the latter was for himself and Makarov. He honestly thought he was on the right track; even though he clearly didn't know what he was doing.

"Guild Masters. Have you admitted anyone new into your guild since the last meeting?"

Sting snapped up. Bob raised a hand. "Ah, yes! He is positively marvelous!"

"Be sure to deliver his application form at the end of the meeting. Anyone else?"

"Sabertooth did." Sting nodded.

"Oh, I wasn't aware Sabertooth was already taking in new members!" Bob cooed.

"Yeah, you tend to be a private bunch," Makarov noted.

"She asked. I didn't see a problem."

"Be sure to deliver her application form at the end of the meeting."

The Dragon Slayer nodded, and the meeting carried on.

.

A few hours later, he was finally leaving the room when he spotted Gajeel and Levy walking down the corridor. Their scent made him choke, and he swallowed hard. The calling didn't flare up again, but their scents were so intertwined that it was hard to tell where one started, and the other ended. Makarov walked to the two and nodded, before following Bob, who was promising drinks.

The blond was all for walking away and leaving the Dragon Slayer and his mate alone, but he should have known that one does not simply evade a dragon's nose. Gajeel's eyes zeroed in on him, and Sting felt it. The raven-haired man nudged Levy, who smiled and walked up to him.

"Hey, Sting! How are you?"

"I'm okay, you? How's the big lug been treating you?"

"I'm okay. And well, thank you." She didn't ask how he knew, so Gajeel must have given her some kind of explanation. "How was the Masters' meeting?"

"Blowing bubbles was more exciting than that," he replied.

Gajeel eyed him up and down, took one noticeable long sniff, and smirked.

Sting raised a hand. "No."

"Seriously? You're covered."

"We met two weeks ago."

"Wait, it's not Yukino?"

"Why would it-No!"

"Hm. Had me fooled then." Gajeel frowned. "Cute?"

"Very." Sting smiled.

"Magic?"

"Sound."

"Cool."

"Yeah." Sting agreed. "I need to get going. I'll see you around."

"Come by the guild sometime!" Levy exclaimed, and Sting waved them goodbye.

Once he was gone from their sight, Levy turned to Gajeel. "What just happened?"

"Dragon Slayer thing, Shrimp. Don't worry."

"I want an explanation." she crossed her arms.

"And you will. When Sting decides to make a move."

"What?"

"When I marked ye... I told you that other Dragon Slayers would know. But I didn't tell ye that it would also basically send off a signal to all of them that it's time to claim their mate."

"Like a chain reaction?"

"Pretty much, yes."

"Is it permanent?"

"The calling fades with time." Gajeel reached out his arm and Levy wrapped hers around it. They began walking down the hallway. "But if both the dragon and the mate... tune in with the calling? It doesn't fade, only when the dragon marks the mate."

"What do you mean, 'tune in'?"

"The mate... they also feel the calling. They may not know what is going on, but they feel it. And if they sort of... accept, pursue that feeling? It's only a matter of time before the dragon claims them."

"And what does that have to do with Sting?"

"I thought ye were smart, Shrimp." he pushed the door open and they stepped out into the street.

"Sting found his mate?!" she gasped.

"Yeah."

"And it's... not Yukino?"

"Nope."

"Hm." she pondered. "Is it Lucy?"

"Nope. If anything, bunnygirl is Natsu's mate. But Salamander is too stupid to realize what is going on."

"Hm. Okay. I'll wait." she nodded.

"Good girl." Gajeel purred, and Levy turned red.

–X–

It was later than Sting expected when he finally walked inside Sabertooth. He ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath. The only lights on were the Lacrima lamps, so that meant everyone had gone to bed. The damn Council and their stupid long meetings and their requirements and their obligations.

He sniffed the air, looking for a certain someone when he noticed that her scent was oozing off the library. He took a moment to grab a drink from behind the counter and walked in her direction. He pushed the door of the library open and snuck inside, looking around. He spotted her at a table, sitting on it legs crossed and surrounded by books.

Piles and piles of them rose all around her, and some even on the floor. There was a high probability that she had most of the books, if not all of them around her, and from the looks of it, she was organizing them into piles. She had a soft white glow around her hands, not quite a magic circle, but an aura of magic.

He leaned against the bookshelf and watched her as she finished reading the preface of yet another book and sang a scale. The book levitated and fell on the correct pile, and Ivy grabbed another book, prying it open. She looked in her element, peaceful and calm, with none of the sadness that seemed to have plagued her that morning.

"It's very late, you know?" Sting smirked when she jumped in alarm.

"Master!" she exclaimed, looking up.

"Come on, Sylvia." he pushed himself off the shelf and started walking to her. "We've talked about that."

"S-sorry, Sting." she gulped and bit her lip. "Force of habit."

"Don't worry." he grabbed a handful of books and sat down next to her. "What are you doing?"

"Separating the books into categories," she explained. "Yukino promised to help me tomorrow."

"In putting everything in place?"

"...and separating the books into categories." she blushed.

"You don't have to do everything in one sitting," he replied. "You have time."

"I do, and that's why I'm here now." she nodded. "I want you to be proud of the work I'm doing."

"I am." Sting frowned. "You fitted right in. You got off with a few scratches on your first dangerous job. You've been more than enough help around the guild. You've helped Frosch and Rogue figure themselves out."

"You also helped Rogue. He told me about the fight." she smiled.

"What I'm trying to say, Ivy..." Sting grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes. "You don't need to be anyone other than yourself to make me proud of you."

"What if I'm not a good person?" she looked away.

"I find that hard to believe," he commented.

"Everyone has a past, Sting." Ivy gulped. "And I've tried my hardest to escape mine."

"Want to talk about it?" he nudged her shoulder.

"Today was a particularly difficult day." the redhead pushed a lock behind her ear. "My grandma... it's been eight years since she-!"

"Died?"

"Yes... let's go with that."

"What happened?"

"She was tired. She told me she wanted to dream." Ivy looked away. "She asked me to sing her to sleep. And I did."

"She never woke up, did she?" Sting guessed.

Ivy shook her head, and the Dragon Slayer took a deep breath, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Ivy turned her head to hide against the crook of his neck. Sting felt her take a shuddering breath and clutch to his shirt. He tried to soothe her, pushing feelings of ease through the calling, and petting her hair. He pressed a kiss against the orange locks, and Ivy relaxed her shoulders.

"Forgive me," she whispered against his neck.

"There is nothing to forgive, Ivy. You didn't do any wrong."

"It's not your job to console members of your guild." she pulled away from his hold.

"No, it's not." he pulled her chin up to look into her glistening eyes. "But I want it to be my job to console you."

"I'm just me, Sting."

"And I'm just me, Ivy."

"But you're-!"

"There are things from my past that I'm trying to get away from too, Ivy. We're not perfect." Sting looked away. "But that doesn't stop me from trying to make amends somehow. And it certainly will not stop me from living my life... or try to share it with someone else."

"...will you help me finish this up?" she tried.

"No. I will, however, help you in getting out this library and to your room, because it's very late and you need the energy to put up with Yukino tomorrow." he got up and reached out a hand. "Come on."

She smiled and shook her head, but took his hand. Sting pulled her off the desk and outside the library. He let her lead him to her room, since he had no idea where it was. They climbed up the stairs, still hands linked, and Ivy stopped in front of her door. She turned and smiled at Sting, who took a step forward and rested his forearm on the doorway, towering over her. Ivy took a step back, shoulders against the wood, and gulped.

"Promise to go to sleep, or do I have to lock you in there?" he raised an eyebrow.

"That's very dragon-like of you, Sting... but I'm not a princess." she smirked, and Sting wanted to kiss that sass off her face.

"You know, I'm not a fan of people talking back at me... but you seem to be the exception to every rule I make." he leaned down.

"I'm always going to be the exception to every rule you make... master." she whispered, and Sting shuddered.

"Are you sure you wanna follow that path, little phoenix?" he smirked. "It's a dangerous one to take..."

"I'm an avid fan of adrenaline." she shot back.

"Now what?" he took a deep breath.

"Now..." she moved a hand behind her and opened the door, stepping back into her room. "Goodnight, Sting."

He chuckled and shook his head, eyeing her with something akin to predatorial desire. "Goodnight, little phoenix."

She smiled and closed the door, and Sting ran his fingers through his hair.

"You're gonna be the death of me."

A/N: Okay so Ivy is a little more of a little shit than I thought.

Let me know your thoughts on this new story!

Lots of love from this weirdo,

LoneeWolf :)